Disneyland Resort sign.Photo: David McNew/Getty
The Happiest Place on Earth is taking a huge step toward ensuring the ongoing safety of its community members asCOVID-19vaccine distributions continue to roll out across the country.
Orange County, California, officials announced on Monday thatDisneyland Resort, whose parks havebeen closed to guestssince the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S. last March, will become the first mass point-of-dispensing (POD) site of vaccinations for the virus, with the ability to administer thousands of vaccines per day starting later this week.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Dr. Pamela Hymel, Chief Medical Officer for Disney Parks Experiences and Products, says, “Disneyland Resort is proud to help support Orange County and the City of Anaheim with the use of our parking lot, and we are gratefulfor all of their efforts to combat COVID-19.”
“After a year in which so many in our community have faced unprecedented hardship and uncertainty, there is now reason for optimism with the administration of a vaccine,” she adds.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Disneyland Resort.Getty
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 191,861 COVID-19 cases reported in Orange County alone, with 2,120 deaths to date, according to theOrange County Health Care Agency.
As of Thursday, in neighboring Los Angeles County, officials were recordingone coronavirus-related death every eight minutes.
“A person now dies every 8 minutes from#COVID19in LA County,” Los Angeles County’s verified Twitter accountposted on Thursday. “Stay home to save lives, always wear a mask when out for essentials and avoid gathering with people you don’t live with.”
Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images
RELATED VIDEO: Dr. Anthony Fauci Publicly Receives the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine
Downtown Disney, the parks' shopping and retail destination, has been open with extensive new health and safety protocols since July.Disneyland Resort was able to reopena portion of Buena Vista Street, the main drag of its California Adventure Park, but wasforced last month to roll back operationsfollowing a stay-at-home order for Southern California, according to theOrange County Register.
As of Tuesday morning, there have been more than 22,600,000 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and at least 376,476 coronavirus-related deaths, according to aNew York Timesdatabase.
As information about thecoronavirus pandemicrapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources fromCDC,WHO, andlocal public health departments.PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMeto raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, clickhere.
source: people.com
